The fact is though that there is no shortage of countries, organisations and individuals who have a grievance against the most powerful country on earth. In fact, threats against Americans and American institutions abroad are commonplace.

When asked, shortly after the embassy bombings, why she thought US diplomats had been targetted in East Africa, Secretary of State Madeleine Albright replied that maybe it was because of the values for which the United States stands.

America's prime suspect, Osama bin Laden has the same view. "Islamic places are under the control of Jews and Christians for the first time since the time of the prophet Mohammed," he says.

America's strong support for Israel has antagonised many in the developing world, particularly those who empathise with the Palestinian cause.

American standards

Osama bin Laden: America's most wanted

And what might appear to the American government as defending certain values can seem to other nations to be a form of aggression or trying to impose American standards on other parts of the world.

President Fidel Castro of Cuba, for example, does not mince his words when decrying US sanctions against his country, which are aimed at bringing an end to his Marxist regime. "This is genocide," he says. "It is turning a nation into a ghetto."

Even close US allies like the European Union, Canada and Mexico are sometimes uncomfortable with the way that Washington promotes its policies towards places like Cuba.

But recent US governments have maintained that it was largely because of US resolve that Communism - notably described by former President Ronald Reagan as the Soviet Union's "evil empire" - has collapsed.

Although the rhetoric has been toned down since President Mohammad Khattami took over, many Iranian leaders, such as the judicial chief Ayatollah Mohammad Yazdi, believe Washington has to be kept at arm's length.

"It is obvious that as long as America's approach and behaviour remain hegemonic and arrogant, one should not speak of resuming ties," he says.

Sole superpower

Another, disquieting dimension for the United States' friendly relations with the rest of the world is that some governments and people think that now that the United States is the only super-power, it is using the United Nations to implement its own policy goals.

Earlier this month the Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister, Tariq Aziz, said as much when he criticised the work of the UN weapons inspection team, Unscom, in Iraq, accusing the Chief Weapons Inspector, Richard Butler, of "serving American policies."

As Iraq is on the US black-list of countries which do not behave by what
Washington considers to be international norms, the Clinton administration does not take such remonstrations very seriously.

Standing firm

But as President Clinton himself underlines, threats against the US and its values are taken seriously - but they are not going to persuade the US government to change course in a hurry.

Compared with some of his predecessors, Mr Clinton tends to be quite
temperate in his language when talking about perceived hostile states.

But he maintains enough of the policies that cause aggravation in some parts of the world - such as promoting Western-style democracy and human rights, and standing up for Israel - to ensure that such hostility will not disappear overnight.